Steam boiler



H. J. KERR STEAM BOILER July 15, 1930.

Filed Oct. 30. 1925 S i! INVENTOR A TTORNE VS Patented July 15, 193

D STATES HOWARD J. KEItB, OF WESTFIELD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE BABCOCK & WILCOX COMPANY, OF BAYONNE, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY STEAM BOILER Application filed October 80, 1925. Serial No. 65,728.

My present invention relates to arrangements in a Water tube boiler by which access may be had to the tubes of such a boiler for cleaning purposes and the like, and will be best understood from the following description and the annexed drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation and Fig. 2 a side elevation, artly in section, of a portion of a water tube oiler of a well-known type with a portion of its casing, to which boiler my invention has been applied; Fig. 3 is an enlargement of a portion of Fig. 1, with some of the parts broken away; Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Figs. 1 and 3, and Fig. 5 is another view of a detail in Fig. 4.

Like reference characters indicate like parts in the several views.

In the water tube boiler which I have selected for the purpose of illustrating my invention, the horizontally inclined water tubes 10 are connected to vertical headers 11, each of which is sinuous with the headers placed side byside so that the sinuosities of one header match with those of another to form a substantially closed wall. The particular headers illustrated are at the uptake end of the tubes 10 and the steam and water would be carried away from these headers through the nipples 12. The usual boiler casing 13 is provided with a plurality of doors 14 for a purpose to be described hereinafter.

It is desirable to arrange such a boiler so that bars or pokers may be introduced to clean .the water tubes, particularly those at the lower part of the boiler where they are liable to become coated with slag, and it is particularly desirable that such cleanin tools can be moved axially of the water tubes for the most effective cleaning purposes.

To provide an access opening for such cleaning tools, in the specific illustrative form, I have flattened the crest of a sinuosity in each of the headers 11, so that between each pair of adjacent headers and above the tubes to be cleaned, there is provided an opening, one of which I have indicated at 15 in Fig. 1, where the cover for the opening has been omitted for purposes of illustration. It will be noted that, by this arrangement, I have provided a relatively large opening between the adjacent headers without seriously decreasin the cross-sectional area of the headers. oreover, since these openings 15 are usually provided at the lower portions of the headers, such decreasein area is of small importance because it occurs at a part of the header where the smallest volume of steam and water is passing, as will be understood when it is considered that the upper parts of the header carry not only the water and steam delivered by the lowermost tubes but by the uppermost tubes also.

Over each of the openings 15 I provide a body member 16 to act as a support for a movable cover 17. The body member 16 is provided with an aperture 18 which is a continuation of the opening 15 but smaller than the opening 15 and the body member 16 is held against the front faces of the headers 11 by T-headed bolts 19 with the Ts 20 thereof engaging at the rear of the headers 11 and the body portions of the bolts 19 extending respectively through the upper and the lower portions of the opening 15. The body member is also provided with a projection 21 which is generally wedge-shaped and which extends into the opening 15 between a pair of headers 11 and at the lower part of the opening 15, this projection 21 serving to support the body member 16 against downward motion by reason of the engagement of the side of the projection 21 with the converging sides at the lower part of the opening 15. Nuts 22 draw the body member 16 against the headers to form a tight joint therewith.

The cover 17 is pivoted on the center of the lower bolt 19, so that when open, it wili stay open and not swing back over the opening and interfere with the use of a bar or other tool passed through the opening. In order to prevent the tightening of the bolt 22 from clamping the cover 17 against free movement, a bushing 23 extends between the washer 24 beneath the nut 22 and the body member 16 and the cover 17 turns on this bushing 23. The upper end of the cover 17 is provided with a projection 25 which strikes against the portions surrounding upper bolt 19 when the cover 17 is turned clockwise in Fig. 1. It will be noted. t a when the cover 17 stands in a vertical position over the aperture 18, the center of massof the cover 17 is at the right of a vertical l ne through the pivot cover, so that the cover 1s held by gravity in its operative position. On the other hand, a slight motion counterclockwise 111 I Fig. 3 will cause the cover to fall to open position and to remain there until the operator desires to close the aperture 18.

In use. the covers 17 normally close all of theopenings 15 so that the headers 11' form a substantially continuous wall which may be made gas tight in the usual manner.

when it is desired to clean the tubes 10 to which access has been provided by the open- 'ings 15, a cover 17 is turned to the positlon shown at the right of Fig. 3 and a bar or other suitable tool inserted through the aperture 18 and the openings 15 and the adjacent tubes cleaned. The upper part of the projection 21 serves to prevent the bar from being jammed between the converging sides of the headers and to take any wear which .otherwise might be transmitted to the side walls of the headers. After the tubes are cleaned, the cleaning tool will be withdrawn and the cover 17 returned to its closed position. It will be understood that the doors 14 are provided in the casing 13 in sufiicient number and in proper position to enable access to the covers 17 and the openings 15.

It will be understood that my invention may be applied to various forms of boilers and to various arrangements of headers and that particularly it may be applied to headers without a sinuous side, in which case, a depression would be made in one of the sides of each header of a pair. It will also be understood that, if desired, each opening 15 may be made up of a partial depression in the adjacent sides of a pair of headers and that such an arrangement would be particularly useful where the openings 15 are provided for each alternate pair of headers. In such case, the decrease in effective area of the headers would be distributed over all of the headers.

I claim:

1. In a water tube steam boiler. a plurality of vertically extending sinuous headers positioned with the sinuous sides of the headers side by side to form a wall, at least some of said headers having the crest of a sinuosity flattened, whereby a relatively small opening through the wall is formed, each of said openings having a body member positioned over said opening and against the exterior of the headers whose sides define said opening, said body member having an aperture forming a continuation of the opening, and a movable cover for said aperture.

2. In a water tube steam boiler, a plurality of vertically extending sinuous headers positioned with the sinuous sides of the headers side by side to form a wall, at least some of said headers having the crest of a sinuosity flattened, whereby a relativelg small opening through the wall is forme each of said openings having a body member pos1t1on ed over said opening and against the exterior of the headers whose sides define said opening, said body member having an aperture forming a continuation of the opening, bolts extending through the body member and through said opening and engaging the rear walls ofthe headers to hold sai body member against the headers, and a movable cover for said aperture.

3. In a water tube steam boiler, a plurality of vertically extending sinuous headers positioned with the sinuous sides of the headers side by side to form a wall, at least some of said headers having the crest of a sinuosity flattened, whereby a relatively small opening through the wall is formed, each of said openings having a body member positioned over said opening and against the exterior of the headers whose sides define said opening, said body member having an aperture forming a continuation of the opening, bolts extending through the body member and through said opening and engaging the rear walls of the headers to hold said body member against the headers, a cover pivotally supported on said body member below said aperture to cover said aperture when said cover is in closed position, the center of mass of the cover being at one side of a vertical line through the cover pivot when the cover is closed, and a stop against which the cover is held by gravity.

4. In a water tube steam boiler, a plurality of vertically extending sinuous headers positioned with the sinuous sides of the headers side by side to form a wall, at least some of said headers having the crest of a sinuosity flattened. whereby a relatively small opening through the wall is formed, each of said openings having a body member positioned over said opening and against the exterior of the headers whose sides define said opening, said body member having an aperture forming a continuation of the opening, bolts extending through the body member and through said opening and engaging the rear walls of the headers to hold said body member against the headers, said body member having a projection extending into said opening and engaging with the convergmg walls thereof at the lower part of the opening to support said body member, and a cover for said aperture.

5. In a water tube steam boiler, a plurality of vertically extending sinuous headers positioned with the sinuous sides of the headers side by side to form a wall, at least some of said headers having the crest of a sinuosity flattened, whereby a relativel small opening through the wall is forme each of said openings having a body member positioned over said opening and against the exterior of the headers whose sides define said opening, said body. member having an aperture forming a continuation of the opening, the surface of said body member surrounding said aperture being inclined to the vertical, and a movable coverfor said aperture arranged to be held against said body member bygravity when the cover is closed.

6. In a water tube steam boiler, a plurality of vertically extending sinuous headers positioned with the sinuous sides of the headers side by side to form a wall, at least some of said headers having the crest of a sinuosity flattened, whereby a relatively small opening through the wall is formed, each of said openings having a body member positioned over said opening and against the exterior of the headers whose sides define said opening, said body member having an aperture forming a continuation of the opening, the surface of said body member surrounding said aperture being inclined to the vertical, a cover pivotally supported on said body member below the top of said aperture with the center of mass of the cover at one side of a vertical line through the cover pivot when the cover is closed, the cover pivot being arranged to permit the cover to 2e held by gravity against said inclined surace.

7. In a water tube steam boiler, a plurality of vertically extending sinuous headers positioned with the sinuous sides of the headers side by side to form a wall, at least some of said headers having the crest of a sinuosity flattened, whereby a relatively small opening through the wall is formed, each of; said openings having anapertured body member positioned over said opening and against the exterior of the headers whose sides define said opening, the bottom wall of the aperture in said body member being above the bottom of said small opening through the 'wall. I

8. In a water tube steam boiler, a plurality of vertically extending sinuous headers positioned with the sinuous sides of the headers side by side to form a wall, at least some of said headers having the crest of a s'inuosity flattened, whereby a relatively small opening through the wall is formed, each of said openings having an apertured body member positioned over said opening and against the exterior of the headers whose sides define said opening, the bottom wall of the aperture in said body member being above the bottom of said small opening through the wall, said bottom wall being extended beyond the face of the body member to provide a relatively wide supporting surface for a cleaning tool or the like.

9. In a steam boiler and its furnace, a pair of adjacent headers having an'access opening therdoetween, a body member positioned member.

HOWARD J. KERR. 

